Adam Savage Gets An Early Look At the Labyrinth Board Game

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Adam Savage and the talented tinkerers of Tested recently met with Johnny Fraser-Allen, a painter and sculptor at Weta Workshop, to get an earlier look at the elaborate Labyrinth board game he’s been putting together. Actually, calling it “elaborate” would be the understatement of the day.

Labyrinth, along with Henson’s other offbeat epic the Dark Crystal, inspired Fraser-Allen to get into filmmaking when he was a boy. He even built a life-size sculpture of Hoggle in between movie projects at the workshop. So, it should surprise nobody that he got a little carried away when given the chance to create his own tribute to the cult classic.

Every creature, from Jareth and Sarah to Ludo and Sir Didymus, has been re-created in loving detail. More impressively, though–the elaborate maze in the photo above is only one of ten pieces overall. As Fraser-Allen explains in the clip below, he went on to sculpt Hoggle’s Gate, the Hedgemaze, Junk City, and of course, the Bog of Eternal Stench with just as fastidious care. Part of the fun of this interview is watching Savage’s jaw drop farther and farther as more pieces of scenery keep getting pulled out from the workshop’s various nooks.

Even though Fraser-Allen’s work will be shrunk down to a much smaller scale for the retail version, his description of the play mechanics make it sound like the actual game will still be quite elaborate. Whoever plays as the Goblin King, for instance, will actually have a degree of control over the Labyrinth, switching hidden doors around so opposing players can get trapped. With all the interactivity, the game experience will never be the same twice.

Even if you’ve already looked into River Horse and made plans to get the game, see if you can keep yourself from drooling during the close-ups of the figures here.

Could you ever imagine a more fitting tribute to Labyrinth? What other movies should Fraser-Allen recreate on the tabletop? Drop your thoughts in the talkback.